00:00Hi there I'm David Bulb, Deputy Political Editor at The Scotsman and I'm here in
00:08Falkirk where Douglas Ross has been speaking ahead of launching his general
00:12election campaign tomorrow. He's picked the Kelpies in Falkirk because this is
00:16Michael Matheson's constituency. The Scottish Conservatives are really making
00:20a big election issue of Michael Matheson and John Swinney's quite overwhelming
00:25support for him to stay in his job. There'll be a vote in the Holyrood
00:29this week where the Tories are trying to kind of push him out of his job. It
00:34doesn't look like it's going to happen but Douglas Ross and his Tories are
00:37very much making this a big election issue and basically placing the SNP on
00:41the side of someone who's been found to have taken money and not declared it
00:45properly. Well one of the things that's come across since last Thursday is the
00:49disgraceful defence by John Swinney of the local MSP here Michael Matheson.
00:55Michael Matheson should do the right thing and resign. He tried to claim
01:00£11,000 of taxpayers money and then he lied to the public, to Parliament, to the
01:06media about that and he thought he could brazen this out. He has been found guilty
01:11by a committee of Parliament of breaching the Code of Conduct. A sanction
01:15has been applied yet we know John Swinney is going to support his friend
01:20rather than do the right thing. So the Scottish Conservatives are very clear in
01:24any other line of work Michael Matheson would have been sacked by now. The SNP
01:28haven't even suspended him from the party so we believe that for the good
01:32and integrity of the Scottish Parliament Michael Matheson must resign.
01:36Ahead of tomorrow's election launch the Tories are targeting about 12 or 13 kind
01:43of seats where they think they can hold on to their six existing seats and take
01:48some off the SNP and that'll be the focus for the Tories going forward in
01:52this campaign.
01:53Will you be selling a different sort of pitch to voters in Scotland than Rishi Sunak?
01:56Obviously he's trying to appeal to lots of different voters in England, particularly those who
02:00may be voting Brexit or Reform Party taking some of the right wing. Is your
02:04message going to be very distinct to that Rishi Sunak might be doing on a national scale?
02:07Well we obviously have a very distinct Scottish message here which is in key
02:11seats up and down the country there's an opportunity to beat the SNP to defeat
02:15their obsession with independence by uniting behind Scottish Conservative
02:18candidates who will be local champions in their area, who will be focused on
02:22investing in an education system, reducing waiting times in our NHS,
02:27creating good jobs, growing the economy. All of that is in stark contrast with
02:31the Nationalists who are obsessed with independence. John Swinney has been clear
02:35independence and separation will be page one, line one of his manifesto. His
02:40government will have independence at the heart of it. Well if voters don't want
02:43that and they want the focus to be on their priorities in key seats up and down the
02:47country they can vote Scottish Conservative.
02:49Your party chairman Craig Coy at the last Tory conference, I think he's here somewhere.
02:52He is, I'm looking. Whenever you mention him I'm going to look for him.
02:56He told me that you were looking to try and double your tally of MPs. Those are the target seats, 12 or 13.
03:01Would that be a benchmark for success in this election for Scottish Tories?
03:04Well I am confident that we can have a very good election here in Scotland. We are
03:09defending six seats at the moment and we want to make gains as well and those
03:13gains will be at the expense of the SNP because in key seats up and down the
03:17country it is a straight choice between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP.
03:20The SNP who will be obsessed about independence or a Scottish Conservative
03:24that will be focused on the real priorities of people up and down the country.
03:27And Labour have had a bit of a surge in Scotland and across the UK. Is that not
03:31bothering you given that the battle is between you and the SNP? Is that why you're
03:34kind of pitching your pitch to voters that the SNP have messed up here and we're the ones that can beat them in some of these key seats?
03:42Well first of all the SNP have messed up here. After 17 years of the SNP being in
03:46power we have seen record weights at our A&E departments. One in seven Scots on an
03:51NHS waiting list. Our education system that was once the envy of the world now
03:55tumbling down international comparisons. But on many issues the Labour Party have
04:01very similar policies to the SNP. If we look at gender recognition reform
04:05obviously Anas Sarwar whipped his MSPs to support Nicola Sturgeon's bill on that.
04:10On Humza Yousaf's hate crime bill again the Labour Party were whipped to support
04:14the SNP on that. And on North Sea oil and gas the SNP and the Labour Party both
04:19want to turn off the taps, turn their back on that sector and the tens of
04:22thousands of Scots in the North East and a hundred thousand Scots across the
04:25country who depend on that industry for their livelihoods but also have the
04:30skills there that are going to be vital for the just transition into greener
04:33renewable forms of energy.
04:35And finally you've been at Westminster obviously for many years. You've seen what's
04:39happened to the Tory party since Boris Johnson. Has Rishi Sunak in your eyes
04:43seriously got things back on track and is he the man that can turn things around in this election?
04:47Well we can see what the Prime Minister set out in terms of inflation for example.
04:52When he became Prime Minister inflation was 11% it's now 2.3% but he's also
04:57accepting there's more to do, the job is not complete yet, we need to do as much as possible to support
05:02families here in Scotland and across the UK. And of course at the two most recent fiscal
05:06events we've seen a cut in national insurance which is important for
05:10people here in Scotland and right across the UK. But also we know in Scotland
05:15there is that straight choice between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP in key seats
05:19up and down the country and that's why I'm going to be getting out there for
05:22the rest of this campaign to convince people to focus on supporting Scottish
05:26Conservative candidates who will deliver on their local priorities rather than a
05:29nationalist who will only want to speak about independence.
05:32Labour have kind of surged in the polls in Scotland and across the UK but really for the
05:38Conservatives they don't really need to worry too much about Labour's sort of
05:40rise because it's very much a one-on-one battle with the SNP in these certain
05:45seats. Douglas Ross making very clear that the SNP's record is on the line
05:49here, that is what they're going to be telling voters and basically getting
05:53behind Rishi Sunak's message that he can go on and win the general
05:58election. It's not the easiest thing for the Tories to sell, Rishi Sunak is
06:02appealing to lots of different people particularly on the right of his party if
06:05you look at the announcement at the weekend over the National Service that
06:09is not going to really track well with Scottish voters, it's very much looking
06:12at reform and the right of his party and trying to get some of that
06:16support back into the Tories but the election launch was taking place in
06:21Perth tomorrow and we'll have to see from Douglas Ross what his pitch is to the public.
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